Modern blues artists come to Macon for revival fest

The All Blues Music & Arts Revival returns to Macon Saturday, Oct. 18, bringing to town modern blues artists from Chicago, Memphis, Tennessee, the Mississippi Delta and Alabama, alongside about two dozen Southeastern folk artists.

“This is the second All Blues Music & Arts Revival, the first being two years ago in 2023 as part of the Macon bicentennial celebration,” said festival organizer Johnny Mollica. “This year we have a slightly smaller footprint with one music stage instead of two like the original, but the music and the art couldn’t be better. There’ll be music the entire time with Brotha’ Rick Patton kicking things off at noon, Little Willie Farmer playing around 2 p.m., Alvin Youngblood Hart’s Muscle Theory at 4 p.m., and Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials finishing things off at 6 p.m.”

Mollica said Patton represents Alabama blues, Farmer the Mississippi Delta, Hart Memphis and Lil’ Ed Chicago blues.

Mollica has been a blues lover since his youth, but it was cemented when the Massachusetts native moved to Memphis to attend college.

“Music, especially blues music, was just in the air, man,” he said. “I was a young guy living in Memphis in the ’80s and it was everywhere all the time. You’d walk down the street and there’d be music and there were all these great little blues clubs you could go to. I just figured, ‘Hey, that’s the way it is. There’s always going to be a good blues band playing everywhere.’ But then, little by little, I started looking around and going, ‘Hey, where’d all the blues bands go?’”

He said the inspiration for the Revival came from wanting to preserve blues traditions and showcase musicians who still carry them.

“I figured Macon was a good place to try to create a hub for whatever’s left of it. There’s a lot of blues music that came from this area. It’s culturally significant. The Revival isn’t really an ‘Oh, let’s throw a party’ kind of thing. It’s actually an educational experience for people to come to and hear these bands and have a good time, but also learn something and get a greater appreciation for the blues and where the music comes from. It really is a music of the people with a lot of soul and heart to it.”

Mollica first came to Macon in the late ‘90s after working on the road with Kirk West, then tour manager for Gov’t Mule, an offshoot of the latter-day Allman Brothers Band. He later moved to Atlanta, then Boston, before returning to settle in Macon in 2015.

“I realized the reason I left in the first place was because I hate winter,” he said. “I always liked Macon, and when I came back in 2015 I couldn’t believe all the changes that made it even better. There were a lot of new things happening music-wise and art-wise.”

Mollica is himself an artist. For a season, his art took the form of T-shirts. 

Those skills led him to designing shirts, posters and album covers for the Allman Brothers, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi and other bands, musicians and promoters. His own work largely falls under the category of folk art, with some pieces reflecting what he calls absurdist art — a reaction to an often absurd world.

“There’s a strong connection between folk art and the blues,” Mollica said. “Folk art is partly defined as art produced by ‘untrained’ artists — artists who took to it because of a burning need to create without having learned all about it or being trained in school. Same for early blues players. Folk artists work with all kinds of materials; they use what they find around them and have access to.

“Another connection is, when all these guys were opening these little country blues clubs and juke joints back in the day, they were doing it with little to no money — definitely no money for decorations. So, you find a lot of art in them made by people around them, folk artists, using what they had to go where their vision and heart and talent took them. That’s why I wanted to make folk art a part of the Revival.”

Mollica said the art side of the festival is being staged by artists Brandy Mohn and Rhonda Miller of Macon’s Mind’s Eye Connections and Casie Trace of ArtSpace Macon.

“Most of the artists are from Macon, a bunch are from Athens and a few others are from around Georgia and the Southeast,” Mollica said. “There’s going to be a Kids’ Art Zone where kids can create art on these big panels we have. We use these panels as part of the Revival. What the kids painted last year is up this year, and what’s done this year will be around for the next one. Adults can work on them, too. Of course, some of the artists who come will be producing work while they’re here and will have their masterpieces on display for people to buy. It’s an important part of the day and a lot of fun.”

Mind’s Eye Connections is a nonprofit organization that explores the connection between creating art and mental health. A few times a year, including at the Revival, they host an “art hive,” where materials are provided for people to create works of their own. It’s a model of art promotion and awareness being adopted by a growing number of arts groups around the country.

“There are such strong roots here,” Mollica said. “Blues music, other music, folk art and other kinds of art that grew out of Macon and the Mill Hill area. What we’re doing reflects those traditions and, hopefully, helps keep them alive. Macon is the kind of place where it feels at home. Even if I lived in New York City, I’d still probably want to put it here and just fly down every year because this is the kind of place it came from. But happily, I live here.

“The rest is just a matter of, if you want good things to happen in the city, show up when they happen — and in this case, it won’t cost you anything. All you have to do is show up.”

Online, you can find out more about the festival at allbluescps.org and about Mollica, who’s often known by his nickname Johnny Mo, at bluesweetness.com. There’s more on Mind’s Eye Connections at mindseyeconnections.org and on ArtSpace Macon at artspacemacon.com.

The free, family-friendly festival takes place from noon to 8 p.m. at the Mill Hill Community Arts Center, 213 Clinton St.

Also Saturday, don’t forget the Macon-Bibb Hispanic Festival with live shows, food, dancing and fun for the family at Cherry Street Plaza, 310 Cherry St., from 1-7 p.m.

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com. Find him on Instagram at @michael_w_pannell.